


Here and Present

by Musyc



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Aurors, Christmas, Community: dhr_advent, Draco Malfoy - character, F/M, Harry Potter - character, Hermione Granger - character, Hospitals, Injury, Presents, Wishes, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 03:06:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musyc/pseuds/Musyc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione only wanted one thing for Christmas.</p>
<p>But it's going to be delayed.</p>
<p>There's been an accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here and Present

**Author's Note:**

> For DHR_Advent 2013.

Harry took a deep breath, head lowered and eyes closed, as he listened to the shouts and laughter from inside the Burrow before he gathered himself and opened the door. A blast of warm air hit him, the voices inside the house quieted for a moment, then the sounds doubled as everyone seemed to shout his name at once. He moved through the kitchen and into the sitting room, listening to conversations as he passed.

"The reserve is doing great this year, picked up a new donor from Armenia. We'll be able to expand." Charlie, his fang earring tangled in his long hair and his cheeks flushed with merriment, smiled and nodded at Harry.

"She 'as been kicking 'ard this week." Fleur, heavily pregnant, waved and laid her hand over her rounded stomach.

"Shop's fantastic, Dad, you'll have to come in after the holidays are over. We've added a few Muggle toys to the inventory." George, a paper hat askew over his missing ear, stood next to Arthur who had a red bow attached to his balding head.

"Honestly, Hermione, you've looked so happy these past few months. Aren't you ever going to tell us who he is? Oh, Harry!" Ginny jumped up from the footstool beside the fireplace and wrapped Harry up in a hug. "It's about time you made it. Talk to Hermione, tell her to tell us who her secret man is. We're dying to know."

Harry burrowed into Ginny's hair, smelling leather oil and broom polish beneath the vanilla and flour of Christmas baking. He clung to her, arms tight around her waist, long enough for Ginny to stiffen and push him back. She looked up at him, her face creased with worry. "Harry? What's wrong?"

Harry looked over Ginny's shoulder at Hermione, who had her eyes locked on his face, her fingers dug into the arms of the overstuffed chair. Harry couldn't look away, as much as he wanted to. He kissed Ginny's forehead and gently urged her to step aside. The house fell silent, everyone watching, everyone listening. Only the pop and crackle of the fire made any sound. They all seemed frozen, waiting for Harry to speak. He moved to the fireplace by Hermione and cleared his throat roughly. "There's been an accident," he said.

The color drained from Hermione's face and she shook her head, her long, wild curls catching at her shoulders. Harry grasped for her hand and clutched it tight. "Hermione, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. There's been an accident. He's...." Hermione's nails clawed at the back of his hand. Harry inhaled sharply and met her eyes, dark and hollowed already. He cradled her hand in both of his, forcing the words out of his throat. "It's Draco."

\---

"He had a _gun_!" Anthony struggled to sit up in the hospital bed. The white bandage around his arm had spots of scarlet on it and his bare chest was purpling with bruises. Anthony flailed one hand towards Harry, his face dark. "Fucking Muggle bastard had a gun! It was like Malfoy never saw one before, he stepped right in front of it."

Anthony's voice broke and he dropped his head, his entire body quivering against the thin pillow as the machine beside his bed beeped faster. "I couldn't stop him. I couldn't stop it. Right in front of it. And-and-and.... And he didn't make a sound when he went down. Just hit the floor and.... Blood, everywhere. Not one fucking sound. He didn't even know what it was."

Anthony dissolved into harsh, racking coughs. "It was my fault," he said, nearly sobbing. "He said he had to get somewhere, had a dinner or something to get to, and I made him go to the shops with me. Partners, they help out and I wanted his advice on what to get Derrick, and I made him come with me, Harry. I made him go into Muggle London, because he was my partner and I said he had to come with me and it's my fault." 

Harry curled his fists into his pockets and ground his teeth together. The machines by Anthony's bed let out a shrieking alarm. A pair of Mediwizards rushed into the room and he stepped back to let them work. At the door, a Healer crooked her finger to call him closer. "Auror Potter, Auror Malfoy's in surgery," the Healer said in a low voice. "It's hard going. You should contact his family, just to be on the safe side."

Harry shook his head. "There's no one to contact."

The Healer raised her brows in surprise. "Really? Right before he went under, he said something about his niece."

"He doesn't have a niece. He doesn't have any immediate family. Everyone's dead."

"That's odd," the Healer said. "Possible head injury, then, we'll keep an eye on that. He was very emphatic. Kept saying 'my niece, get her, my niece'."

Harry stared at the Healer for a long moment. His breath stuck in his throat and he gave a choked laugh. "Hermione. _Fuck_ , that's who she's been--" He cut himself off and nodded at the Healer. "I know who he meant. I'll, er. God, this is.... I'll get her."

The crossed wand and bone symbol on the chest of the Healer's robes flashed a bright yellow. She touched it to stop the flashing, then looked at Harry, her face set in solemn lines. "You may want to be quick about it. He lost a lot of blood. We can't make any promises."

\---

Hermione perched on the edge of a hard wooden bench, her hands locked together, her head bowed until her hair brushed her shins. Harry took a seat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. With a strangled whimper, Hermione twisted to fling her arms around him. She burrowed into the crook of his neck, crying. On the other side of the waiting room, Molly looked up from her knitting and Ron half-rose from his chair. Harry gestured them back and patted Hermione's hair as she clung to him. "They haven't said," she wailed against his neck. "They haven't said a thing."

"That's good, though," Harry said, hiding a grimace of uncertainty in her hair. "That's good. If the Healers haven't said anything, that means there's nothing to say, right? I mean, if it was bad news, they'd have told us."

Ron rolled his eyes and mouthed an insult at him when his words made Hermione shriek into his jumper. She pounded her fist against his chest and sat up, flinging her hair back wildly. "He should have been with me," she mumbled. She screwed up her face, sniffing hard, and took a shaking breath. She stared at the door of the waiting room, another tear tracking down her cheek to fall into the damp spot on her blouse. "He was supposed to be with me. That's what I asked for. My Christmas present. It was the only thing I asked him for. To come to dinner at the Burrow so we could-could announce.... So we could tell everyone."

She twisted her hands, palms rubbing and knuckles cracking. "We were going to tell everyone about us. We were ready. It was going to be my present. All of us, everyone I love in the wizarding world, all together." Her voice shattered and Harry drew her in to curl against him again. Hermione clutched at his jumper. "I can't lose him. I can't lose anyone else."

He stroked her hair and exhaled slowly, unsure of how to respond. There didn't seem to be anything to tell her that would reassure her. Until they got word from a Healer, there wasn't anything he could say. He held her, let her cry, and shook his head silently each time someone - Ginny, Percy, Angelina, Bill - came into the waiting room to take their turn in the vigil.

He had no idea how long it was until a young Mediwitch came to the door. Everyone in the room went still; Hermione stiffened in the circle of his arm like she'd been Petrified. The Mediwitch gave a nod, checking the chart she carried. "Mrs Malfoy?" No one corrected her. Hermione looked up, her hand locked so tight around Harry's that her nails dug into his flesh. The Mediwitch frowned and beckoned with her chart. "Come with me."

\--

"Everything under control, Frank?" Harry asked as he wound his scarf around his neck and smashed a wooly hat over his messy hair.

Frank Lambswool, an Auror with nearly thirty years in the department, nodded. He put his feet up on a desk and gestured to the stack of magazines next to a teakettle that was gently steaming out of its spout. "Nothing to worry about," he said. "Usually quiet right before Christmas. Seems like even the criminals want to behave just so's they don't lose out on presents. Never you mind me. I like seeing the young'uns have a good time with their families. Gupta will be in later and she'll thrash me at checkers again. Holiday tradition and all. Go on and have your fun. We'll hold the fort."

"All right, then." Harry pointed to the silver badge pinned to his coat. "Don't forget to call if you need."

Frank made a face, then scrabbled through the papers on his desk before holding his badge up with a grin. "If it had teeth, it would've bit--"

"Auror down, Auror down! Assistance! Dammit, somebody help!"

Harry and Frank both froze as their badges screamed out in Anthony's voice. They stared at each other, eyes wide and mouths agape. The badges shrieked a klaxon before Anthony shouted through again. "Auror down! Potter, Lambswool, Gupta, whoever's in the office, _hurry_! Malfoy's down!" 

Harry slapped his badge, silencing the alarm. "Anthony, we're on our way."

\--

Harry peeked around the corner of the door into the hospital room. A dozen tubes and wires snaked out of Draco, leading from his mouth, nose, and arms. Draco was ghostly, pale even against the crisp white of the bed linens. The only spot of color to him was the broken, faded Dark Mark in his left arm. Hermione, curled into a chair at his right, clutched his hand. She had her head bent to the bed, and her shoulders were shaking.

Harry checked the machines by Draco, holding his breath. Each was lit up, quietly beeping or humming, and he exhaled sharply, loud enough to make Hermione snap her head up. Harry gave a soft, unconscious grunt at the tears staining her cheeks and her red, swollen eyes. "Is he--"

"They don't know." Her words were barely a whisper. She looked at Draco, stroking his hand. "They said, they said. They did everything they could. The blood loss, the shock. They don't...." Her voice caught and she shook her head without looking away from Draco's face. "Wait until morning, they said. See if he lives through the night."

Her face crumpled and Harry took a step toward her, but Hermione sniffed hard, scrubbed her eyes on her shoulder, and lifted her head. "I'm all right," she said softly, her voice trembling with every word. "I'll be.... As long as he's still breathing, I'm all right."

Harry coughed quietly and fidgeted with the temple of his glasses. "Is there anything I can do? Want me to go back to yours, get a change of clothes? Any messages for anyone? Practically every Weasley in the world is out in the waiting room."

Hermione managed a small, muffled laugh and a quivering smile. "Tell them I'm sorry. And tell them to go home. They shouldn't miss out on everything for me. And-and make sure Ron doesn't eat all the apple pie. I bribed Draco with it to get him to come to the party. We have to save a piece for him."

One of the machines beeped, the green lines on its monitor fluttering, and Hermione focused her full attention on Draco. "I'm here," she murmured, brushing his hair back and stretching to press a kiss high on his cheekbone. "I'm here, love. Stay with me, Draco. I'm right here."

It seemed as though she'd forgotten he stood there, and Harry slowly backed out of the room. He watched her from the hallway for a moment, contemplating the strained, worried love in Hermione's face. He felt his pocket, then hurried to the waiting room.

\--

"You're here about Malfoy?" The Mediwitch looked rushed and bothered, and Harry almost fumbled the clipboard she shoved at him over the counter of the tall central desk. "Sign here to collect his belongings."

Harry clutched the clipboard, staring at the list of items. Wand, pocketwatch, billfold. An outrageous amount of money he was sure Draco thought of as nothing more than pocket change. A couple of ticket stubs from a cinema, which made him raise his brows in surprise. Hermione's influence, he thought. Draco had to be near-desperately in love with her to go to a Muggle cinema. Harry looked at the next item on the list and he sucked in a breath.

A velvet box. Contents, one ring.

Harry shut his eyes and swallowed hard. There was no question who the ring was for, not now that he knew. He signed the form with a messy flourish - Harry James Potter, Head Auror - and the Mediwitch handed over a clear sack. Harry took it back to the waiting room and rifled through it, pulling out the small box. He handed the bag to Frank. "Back to the office, usual procedure. Have one of the lab wizards go over it, just in case."

"And that?" Frank asked, tilting his head at the box Harry held.

Harry turned it around in his fingers, then shoved it in his pocket. If it went with the other evidence, it wouldn't emerge from the Ministry for days. There wasn't time for that. "What box?" he said. "I didn't see Malfoy's gift for his girlfriend in there, did you?"

Frank hesitated, then shook his head slowly. "Don't have my glasses," he said. "Didn't see a thing."

\--

He'd tried to get her to go home, but nothing would stir her. Finally, Harry had badgered one of the Mediwitches into putting a camp bed in Draco's hospital room. Hermione had slept there for three days, her only actions to hold Draco's hand and watch the machines that beeped and pulsed as he fought for life. Harry never asked what she said to Draco, never questioned her right to be there at Draco's side. He, of all people, knew how strong a force love could be. If anything could bring Draco back from the grasp of death, it would be that very strength - the strength of Hermione's love.

Christmas morning, Harry knocked on the edge of the door and lifted a hand in greeting when Hermione looked up. "He's looking good this morning," Harry said.

Hermione managed a bit of a smile. Her fingers threaded through Draco's, and her eyes glimmered with bright tears when Draco's hand twitched as if he was clinging to her. "He is," Hermione said. "Look at that. He's been doing that for the past few hours. He might.... He might come back today. Wouldn't that be a wonderful present, Harry? Don't you think?"

There was more hope in her voice with that question than there had been in days, and Harry nodded, happy she could have that hope. "Speaking of presents," he said. "I, er. It's a good thing this is rather a large room. Because--"

"Oh, for goodness' sake, Harry, move out of the way. We're blocking traffic out here." Molly elbowed him in the spine and pushed past him. She was followed by Arthur, George, Bill, Percy - the entire extended Weasley clan packed into the hospital room and around Draco's bed. There was hardly space to breathe and Harry found himself shoved into the corner between Hermione's chair and the wall.

Hermione stared at the group, her eyes round with surprise. "What's going on?" 

Harry put one hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

Ron cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders. "Don't blame us," he mumbled. "It was Harry's idea. He told us what you wanted for Christmas - y'know, everyone around with Malfoy there and all. Since he can't bloody well come to the Burrow...."

"We 'ave brought ze Burrow to 'im," Fleur said.

Molly pulled a bundle of wool out of her handbag and carefully draped it across Draco's chest. It was an emerald green jumper, with a silver D embroidered near the collar. "Oh, dear," she said, frowning. "It's far too big. Well, I didn't have much time to make it smaller."

Harry had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing at the shock on Hermione's face. She tried to speak and couldn't. Her mouth moved, but no sound emerged, not then, and not for any of the other presents that the Weasleys brought forth. A Magpies poster from Ron, a small wheel of Brie from Bill and Fleur, an Oyster card from a proudly beaming Arthur - they were all small, hurried presents, but they were all for Draco. There was even a small pie, still warm and produced by a grinning Ginny, who smacked Ron's hand when he reached for it.

Harry patted Hermione's hair as she cried over each gift and thanked everyone in a quietly choked voice. He made a quick gesture and, one by one, the Weasleys bent to give Hermione a hug or kiss and a swift Happy Christmas before shuffling out of the room. A couple of them even touched Draco's hand and muttered a Happy Christmas to him as well. 

When the room was cleared, Harry dug into his pocket and drew out a box. "You got him something too?" Hermione asked as she wiped tears off her face.

"Nah, it's not for him," Harry said. "It's from him. It was in his things when we brought him in. Fairly certain it's for you." Harry set the small box in front of her and watched her open it. The ring inside was simple, a plain gold band with a single ruby, sitting on top of a folded parchment. 

Hermione gently unfolded the note. "'Thank you,'" she read in a whisper. "'For giving me another chance at life.'" She pressed the note over her heart and sucked in a shuddering breath before sliding the ring on her finger and taking Draco's hand again. As if Harry wasn't in the room, she leaned over Draco and pressed a slow, lingering kiss to his forehead. "I love you," she said. "Please come back. That's what I _really_ want for Christmas, Draco. Another chance at life."

One of the machines beeped. And again. And louder. Faster, and louder, and Draco's eyes opened. "He'ne," he croaked. His brows slowly knotted and he gave a soft grunt. "Po'er?"

Over Hermione's shriek of joy, Harry laughed. "Look, Malfoy," he said, shaking his head. "There's no way of getting out of a Weasley Christmas, even by getting shot." Draco's expression stayed blank and confused and Harry laughed again. "Later," he said. "Much later. Hermione, kiss your damn boyfriend, would you?"

She was moving almost before he could get out of the way. He didn't try to say another word, not that she would have heard him in any case. He slipped out of the hospital room and slumped against the wall in the hallway, swearing and muttering gratitudes to whoever might be listening. Draco was going to live.

Harry stepped aside for a Healer rushing to Draco's room, and he went to tell the Weasleys that Hermione had got her Christmas present after all.


End file.
